Poetry X Hunger
  • Home
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Advisory Board
  • Hunger Poetry
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • ART
  • News & Blog
  • Young!
    • Poems by Young Poets
    • Videos
    • Materials for Teachers
  • Library
    • Extent of Hunger >
      • Global Hunger: Progress & Challenges
      • Hunger in the US
    • Historic Accounts of Hunger >
      • Africa
      • The Americas
      • Asia
      • Europe and Russia
    • Historical Poems
    • Interviews
    • Recent highlights
  • Contact/Submit/Take Action
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Call to Action
    • Resources & Donations >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources

Hunger Poems

You are encouraged to read the poems posted here and elsewhere on the

Poetry X Hunger website, to look  
at 
the historic accounts of hunger,

famine and starvation, or consider the ​prompts suggested and then...

​write some poetry about hunger.
 

Poem by Michael Minassian

9/17/2020

1 Comment

 
​REMEMBER THE STARVING ARMENIANS

In my mother’s kitchen 
food was weaponized
plates piled high with pilaf
tomatoes, chicken, and lamb.

Remember the starving Armenians,
my mother said.

History sat down at the table with us;
our lost family kept alive 
half a century later 
In Northern New Jersey,
Long Island, and the Bronx.

During the First Genocide
of the Twentieth Century,
America sent ships full 
of food, nurses, and nuns 
to the Mediterranean;
posters hung in town squares
and full-page ads appeared
in the New York Times:

Remember the starving Armenians

A million and a half dead,
another million scattered 
around the world.

But I had to finish my dinner
no matter how full I felt
and if any scraps 
remained on our plates
my mother stood 
at the kitchen sink
and licked each one clean –

our kitchen at least 
one place on earth
we ate for the empty places
we ate for the dead.
remember_the_starving_armenians_-minassian_.mp3
File Size: 1709 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

Picture
MICHAEL MINASSIAN is a Contributing Editor for Verse-Virtual, an online magazine. His chapbooks include  The Arboriculturist (2010) and Around the Bend (2017). His poetry collection, Time is Not a River, (2020) is available on Amazon. A second poetry collection entitled Morning Calm and a chapbook Jack Pays a Visit are also forthcoming in 2020. For more information: https://michaelminassian.com

1 Comment

    Suggestions & Ideas

    Take a look at some of the writing prompts to get inspired!

    Archives

    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019

    Poets

    All
    A.G. Kawamura
    Anne Harding Woodworth
    Argos MacCallum
    Ashlynn Doljac
    Bill Batcher
    Blair Ewing
    Brenardo
    Brenda Bunting
    Brian Manyati Aka Towandah Ryan
    Cathy Warner
    C.C. Arshagra
    Chip Williford
    Christina Daub
    Christopher T. George
    Cliff Bernier
    Debbi Brody
    Deborah Diemont
    Dee Allen
    Don Hamaliuk
    Dorothy Lowrie
    Ed Zahniser
    Eike Waltz
    Eileen Trauth
    Elise Power
    Ellen Rowland
    Emily Vargas-Barón
    Eric Forsbergh
    Evan Belize
    Gary D. Grossman
    Gayle Lauradunn
    Glynn Axelrod
    Grace Beeler
    Grace Cavalieri
    Heather Banks
    Hedy Habra
    Holly Wilson
    Jay Carpenter
    Jay Carson
    Jefferson Carter
    Jeffrey Banks
    Joan Dobbie
    Joanne Durham
    Joseph Mukami Mwita
    J R Turek
    Judy Kronenfeld
    Julie Fisher
    Kalpna Singh-Chitnis
    Kari Gunter-Seymour
    Kathamann
    Kim B Miller
    Kitty Cardwell
    Kitty Jospé
    Laura McGinnis
    Linda Dove
    Linda Trott Dickman
    Lindsay Barba
    Lisa Biggar
    Lissa Perrin
    Lynn Axelrod
    Lynn White
    Margaret Brittingham
    Marianne Szlyk
    Marianne Tefft
    Martha E. Snell
    Michael Glaser
    Michael Minassian
    Milton Carp
    Naima Penniman
    Nan Meneely
    Naomi Ayla
    Naomi Grace
    N Chamchoun
    Philip Harris
    Robbi Nester
    Robert Fleming
    Ron Shapiro
    Sandeep Sharma
    Sharon Anderson
    Sharon Waller Knutson
    Sherrell Wigal
    T. A. Niles
    T.A. Niles
    Theresa Richard
    Tom Donlon
    Vickisa
    Vincent J Calone
    V.j.calone
    William Rivera
    Zane Yinger

    RSS Feed

Copyright PoetryXHunger 2022


Search the website:

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Advisory Board
  • Hunger Poetry
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • ART
  • News & Blog
  • Young!
    • Poems by Young Poets
    • Videos
    • Materials for Teachers
  • Library
    • Extent of Hunger >
      • Global Hunger: Progress & Challenges
      • Hunger in the US
    • Historic Accounts of Hunger >
      • Africa
      • The Americas
      • Asia
      • Europe and Russia
    • Historical Poems
    • Interviews
    • Recent highlights
  • Contact/Submit/Take Action
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Call to Action
    • Resources & Donations >
      • Global resources
      • US resources
      • Maryland resources